South Sudan: Death rarely comes alone, estimated 382,000 killed in the 2013-2018 Civil War!

Just as the times goes, the fatigue of all the cease-fire violations. The high numbers of refugees to Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan is baffling alone, as the year-long internal conflict in South Sudan has been costly, but to keep control of the numbers and study them must have taken time. As these estimation is accurate, but reveal a certain amount of deaths to an extent that could be believable. That because of the numbers of Refugees who has fled the civil war in 2013 to 2018.

The South Sudan has been in dire needs ever since, therefore the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and the other Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) mission to are in-charge for different reasons, as well as various international organizations who are coming in with the needs of the people in the Republic. As the massive violations against the people, the continued civil war and the killings done by government soldiers, from rebels or from militias themselves. There are just so many lives touched by this conflict, into numbers so vast, that its hard to imagine. This are people that could have been our neighbors, brothers, sisters or even class-mates. All left planet earth because of the ambition and the need for total control by the leadership in Juba. This because the state are using violence to get all control and all power. However, that has had a cost. So, many lives has been lost.

As explained by Professor Checchi:

They then applied a statistical model to estimate the death rate and death toll attributable to the war in South Sudan from its start in December 2013 to April 2018, and the number of people killed during the same period. The analysis covered the population living within South Sudan at any point during the above period and excludes both refugees to South Sudan and South Sudanese refugees abroad. An estimated 1,177,600 deaths due to any cause occurred among people living within South Sudan during the period, while the team estimated 794,600 deaths would have occurred in the absence of the war, yielding an excess of 382,900. Nearly 190,000 people were estimated to have died of violent injuries. Professor Checchi said: “It is clear that the war has severely affected the health of the South Sudanese population, and that the humanitarian response to the crisis has been insufficient. Inadequate resourcing and sub-optimal performance of humanitarian services should be addressed urgently” (LSHTM, 2018)

These numbers are showing possible amounts of deaths, it might be more, might be less. Whatever it does show and signs in the sand. As there are no coherent numbers made and collected of all the battles between the SPLA(SSDF) and the rebels. These numbers could have been different, but not like the state has collected the head-count or even tried to show it. As this acts of impunity would make their enterprise look even worse, than they want to be. Since, President Kiir wants to look good, as he needs donors and his budget needs funds from stakeholders, they need promise and prospects. They do not need the deaths and tragedies.

Therefore, he could get away with that, as the public have been preoccupied with the refugees and silencing the guns, without knowing the consequences of all the skirmishes, operations and the continued civil-war in the Republic. Peace.

Reference:

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) – ‘War in South Sudan estimated to have led to almost 400,000 excess deaths’ 26.09.2018 link: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2018/war-south-sudan-estimated-have-led-almost-400000-excess-deaths

Statement from South Sudanese Woman Leaders – 26th September 2018, Djibouti

South Sudan: Jieng Council of Elders & President Salva Kiir Mayardit – Report on The Situation of South Sudan after Peace Revitalization Signing (22.08.2018)

South Sudan: SSNMC Public Statement (21.09.2018)

SPLM/A-(IO): Resolution of the SPLM/A-(IO) National Liberation Council (NLC) Meeting on the Ratification of the R-ARCSS (22.09.2018)

Adjust UN force in Abyei to current realities, peacekeeping chief urges Security Council (21.09.2018)

Amidst an increase in criminal activity in the Abyei area, which is contested by Sudan and South Sudan, the United Nations top peacekeeping official on Thursday called for deployment of additional police units, to enhance the UN’s focus on maintaining law and order there, and furthering peace between local communities.

DAKAR, Senegal, September 21, 2018 – The proposed additional personnel – both formed police units and individual officers – are within the current troop ceiling authorized for the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told the Security Council.

UNISFA was established by the Security Council in 2011, amid deteriorating tensions in the Abyei region – a resource-rich area contested by the two neighbouring countries – shortly before South Sudan became independent. It is tasked with monitoring the flashpoint border, facilitating delivery of humanitarian aid, and is also authorized to use force to protect civilians and humanitarian workers in the region.

In his briefing to the 15-member Security Council, Mr. Lacroix presented a set of recommendations to adjust UNISFA to the current situation on the ground to allow it to best support the Governments of Sudan and So

The “modest adjustments” would enable the UN peacekeeping mission to better support border demarcation efforts by the African Union Border Programme, including the “much-needed” sensitization of border communities, said the senior UN official.

The recommendations envisage the establishment of two further sector headquarters and team sites with the “Safe Demilitarised Border Zone” to make the border region safer and more secure.

“Troops would be transferred from the Abyei area to achieve full operating capability for the border monitoring mechanism,” elaborated Mr. Lacroix, noting that such a move would harmonize the “diminishing military threat with the corresponding-reduction in military need” for the region.

Mr. Lacroix also briefed the Council on progress made by the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan towards implementing the benchmarks outlined in resolution 2412 (2018).

The benchmarks include freedom of movement for UNISFA air and ground patrols, an improved joint border verification and monitoring mechanism, the joint political and security mechanism, border crossing corridors, and border demarcation.

South Sudan in their efforts to reach agreement over the region and it’s future.

 

South Sudan: Dr. Aleu Garang Aleu Anyang statement as a civil servant in IGAD (19.09.2018)

Commission on Human Rights Urges South Sudan to make peace and justice a reality (18.09.2018)

South Sudanese civilians continue to live in complete insecurity as the violence is ongoing, arbitrary detention and torture at the hands of the National Security Service are on the rise, some 6 million people – around 60 per cent of the population — live under “emergency” food insecurity and humanitarian assistance convoys are routinely attacked.

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 18, 2018 -The Commissionto use the opportunity created by the renewal of the peace agreement to ensure justice and accountability for the victims of the many crimes committed against its population.

While welcoming in its oral update before the Human Rights Council the “Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan” signed on 12 September, the Commission expressed doubts that the peace deal would endure as deadly fighting between opposing parties and attacks on United Nations peacekeepers had resumed less than 24 hours later.

South Sudanese civilians continue to live in complete insecurity as the violence is ongoing, arbitrary detention and torture at the hands of the National Security Service are on the rise, some 6 million people – around  60 per cent of  the population — live under “emergency” food insecurity and humanitarian assistance convoys are routinely attacked.

The many victims of the five-year conflict need justice if communities are to heal and rebuild the fabric of their society. The ongoing sexual violence against women and girls in South Sudan is pervasive and requires a sustained commitment to holding perpetrators accountable and addressing impunity.

“South Sudan is at war with its citizens and currently stands at the crossroads between hope and peace, on the one hand, and more missed opportunities, on the other hand,” said the Commission’s Chairperson Yasmin Sooka.  “Sustainable peace requires justice and accountability for serious crimes”

Timeline

The Commission in particular urged the African Union and the Government of South Sudan to agree on a timeline to fast-track the long-awaited Hybrid Court for South Sudan, the Commission on Truth, Healing and Reconciliation and the Compensation and Reparations Authority, all set out in Chapter V of the Peace Agreement to render justice and facilitate national reconciliation.

“Six months later, we are still waiting for this signature [by the President of South Sudan or his foreign Minister], which is required by the African Union to set up this court,” stressed Ms. Sooka.

The Commission, which includes two other international human rights law experts Andrew Clapham and Barney Afako, was mandated by the Council to monitor and report on violations, establish their circumstances, identify perpetrators and collect and preserve evidence that could be used to try perpetrators of serious crime. It recently visited South Sudan to meet with senior government officials, UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), humanitarian workers, civil society, the religious communities, as well as internally displaced persons. It also visited refugee camps in Eastern Darfur in Sudan, Arua in Uganda and Kakuma in Kenya, to talk with refugees from South Sudan as well as representatives of the opposition parties. The Commission is due to submit its report to the Human Rights Council in March 2019.

New attacks

Just hours after the revitalized peace agreement, government forces (SPLA) were alleged to have attacked Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) forces in Yei River State, South of Juba, resulting in the deaths of 17 members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Moreover, two days ago, on 15 September, a SPLA soldier shot in the leg a UN peacekeeper in Yei about 1.4 km from a UNMISS base. Yei town experienced heavy shooting throughout the night, prompting the UNMISS to put it on security alert.

South Sudan is considered to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for humanitarian workers, with more than 13 aid workers killed this year alone.  In April, 10 aid workers were abducted and a UN peacekeeper killed in an ambush targeting a humanitarian convoy. In Wau, between June and late August, access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance was denied “for security reasons”, the Commission’s Chair noted.

Despite the stated commitment of the Government of South Sudan to address sexual violence, little has been done. According to a 2017 study by the Global Women’s Institute and the International Rescue Committee more than 65 per cent of women and girls in South Sudan have reportedly experienced physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lives. Women in South Sudan have been treated by government soldiers and armed actors to the conflict including local militias as spoils of the conflict. They also experience sexual violence during inter-communal violence between rival ethnic groups clashing over land and cattle and live with the threat of sexual violence on a daily basis which is fuelled by the lack of accountability and justice for these crimes.

And yet the Commission noted that, under pressure by the international community, the Government of South Sudan could muster the political will to combat impunity, as evidenced by the recent judgment in the Terrain Case, in which a Military Tribunal handed down jail sentences to ten soldiers for murder, rape, sexual harassment, theft and armed robbery.

Terrain case

While the victims in the Terrain case have welcomed the verdict, they have expressed their disappointment that only the foot soldiers were prosecuted while those with command responsibility have gone unpunished.

The Commission recalled that UNMISS in 2017 investigated and documented that more than 217 South Sudanese women were gang raped by government security forces including at SPLA checkpoints in Juba in the same cycle of violence of July 2016. To date, none of the perpetrators have been held accountable and nor have any of these women received any compensation from the government.

“The plight and suffering of South Sudanese women and girls can no longer be ignored; they urgently deserve justice, compensation and medical and trauma support services. The Terrain trial verdict should not be the exception, but the rule in South Sudan from now on,” declared Ms. Sooka.

Unaccompanied minors

The appalling living conditions have displaced 1.7 million people inside South Sudan. Another 2.5 million South Sudanese have fled the country, including more than 65,600 unaccompanied minors who crossed the border into neighbouring countries since the outbreak of South Sudan’s civil war in 2013, according to UNCHR.

Amongst the refugee population are a number of unaccompanied minors — 65,600 of them according to the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR) — who crossed the border into neighboring countries since the outbreak of South Sudan’s civil war in 2013. These unaccompanied minors are vulnerable to child-soldier recruitment, sexual abuse and exploitation, child labour, drug abuse, criminality, and poverty. They experience intense anxiety and trauma due to separation; they do not know where their family members are, or whether they are alive or dead; in addition they are left to fend for themselves.  UNHCR, UNICEF and the ICRC are doing incredible work in dealing with unaccompanied minors. UNHCR ought to have more resources to carry out their work, declared the Commission.

Given the acute levels of food insecurity in the country, the Government of South Sudan would be expected  to do its utmost to facilitate unimpeded access to UNMISS and humanitarian organizations. Instead the authorities resort to constant bureaucratic stalling which denies access and more alarmingly. Targeted attacks against humanitarian convoys together with these obstructions make it almost impossible to deliver emergency relief.

Death penalty

Finally, the Commission deplored that the Government of South Sudan has not abolished the death penalty or put in place a moratorium on executions despite calls from civil society and the international community to do so, with three executions taking place in May alone this year. A further 40 death-row prisoners have been transferred from state and county prisons to Wau and Juba central prisons, which are the only prisons equipped with execution chambers.  The Commission said it feared that the next few months could see many more executions among the 345 death-row prisoners detained across the country.

 

UNHCR calls on South Sudan parties to deliver a lasting peace (17.09.2018)

UNHCR reiterates its call that all parties fully implement and uphold the deal for South Sudan to maintain a sustainable and permanent peace.

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 17, 2018 – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the signing of the Revitalized Peace Agreement on 13 September in Addis Ababa between the South Sudan warring parties. This is a crucial milestone towards permanent ceasefire and lasting peace for millions of war beleaguered South Sudanese.

UNHCR reiterates its call that all parties fully implement and uphold the deal for South Sudan to maintain a sustainable and permanent peace.

UNHCR stands ready to support all parties who genuinely strive to achieve an inclusive peace process, which includes a provision in the signed accord requiring the agreement be disseminated to the 2.5 million South Sudanese living in exile across six countries.

“The peace process must include the voices of refugees and those displaced inside of South Sudan to bring an end to more than five years of senseless suffering” said Arnauld Akodjenou , UNHCR Special Adviser on the South Sudan situation. “It’s important that refugees participate, understand and support the peace agreement for it to be fully effective.”

Representatives of South Sudanese refugees came face-to-face with their leaders in a meeting in Khartoum on 4th September, pressing upon their demands for inclusion in peace building efforts.

South Sudan continues to generate the largest refugee crisis on the African continent. The credibility of the unfolding peace process rests on its ability to end nearly five years of violence and suffering for the people of South Sudan, and to meet the aspirations of over four million mostly women and children forcibly displaced by the conflict.

South Sudan Civil Society Forum – Press Release (17.09.2018)